Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC

Xavier Dupré

Daniel Déchelotte

Olivier Yves Marie Jais Nielsen

Systems, methods, and computer-readable storage media are provided for using social signals to rank local search results. Local entity website addresses are matched with social network addresses and social network profiles are matched with local entity index records. Once it is known that a particular address or local entity index record aligns with a particular social network address or profile, interest signals associated with the social network are utilized to rank the particular address or local entity index record among other search results. In this way, the social network popularity of an entity may be taken into account in determining whether to provide information about the entity as a search result. Additionally, ranking may be improved for entities having incomplete or erroneous information available in association with a social network and for entities having a strong social network presence but a limited web presence.

Growing community of inventors

Paris, France

Xavier Dupré